Photo: WENN
Damon Albarn's new musical, based on Alice in Wonderland, will debut in July 2015.
It has been revealed that the Blur frontman's latest stage endeavour will have its first live performance at Manchester's Palace Theatre, as part of this summer's Manchester International Festival.
The musical will once again see Albarn work with Dr.Dee director Rufus Norris, and has been written to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll's classic Alice In Wonderland.
Titled wonder.land, the musical will follow 12 year old Ally, who escapes school bullies and a tough life to live in a virtual wonder land online, featuring characters from the iconic book reinvigorated in a modern context.
Albarn went into more detail about his intention behind the musical, explaining: "I’m fascinated by the idea of going down a rabbit hole, the otherworldliness and what that might mean. Alice aside, The Queen of Hearts, The Duchess, White Rabbit, Caterpillar were the most threatening characters of my childhood. I was genuinely very frightened of them as a kid, which is probably why I was interested when Alex Poots [Manchester International Festival Artistic Director] suggested a reworking."
wonder.land opens in Manchester's International Theatre on 2 July, before moving to London's National Theatre at some point in November.
